by Jade Jones
“Put his ass on the table,” King demanded in an eerily calm tone. He swiftly removed his $3500 Hermes belt.
Vado was roughly slammed on top of the long oak table for everyone to see and witness the consequences of being a traitor.
“You made a yaself a target!” King yelled. “You made yaself a target when you did this shit!” WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!
King’s leather belt came down hard on Vado’s torso several times, leaving welts after each strike. Everyone watched in silence as he brutally beat Vado worse than a drunken father to his child.
“AHH! FUCK!” Vado tried his best to shield the blows, but that didn’t stop King from slapping him across the face and stomach with his Hermes belt.
King didn’t let up until he saw Vado’s flesh tear open. By the time King finished his assault Vado’s body was red, bloodied, and riddled with welts and bruises.
Jude sat speechless as he watched Vado groan in pain. What the fuck did I just step into?
King wiped the perspiration off his brow while breathing heavily. “Tie this mufucka up until I figure out what the hell to do with his ass,” he said, refastening his belt.
The two guys holding down Vado dragged his bloody and beaten body from the meeting room.
The show, however, was far from being over. King took everyone by surprise when he aimed his Glock at Aso. “You knew about this shit, young nigga?” he asked with fury in his hazel eyes.
Aso instinctively jumped out of his seat and backed up. Holding his hands up defenselessly, he said, “My nigga, on everything, I ain’t know that cat was working with the Feds. I put that on my life, man. I’m just as shocked as you!”
King’s finger rested on the trigger as he debated whether or not to murk Aso’s ass just because of his suspicions.
Jude bravely stood to his feet and stepped in front of Aso. “Man, I know my blood,” he boldly said. “He ain’t no traitor, bruh.”
King licked his dark lips and his nostrils flared wildly. He was tempted to squeeze the trigger anyway, but there was something in Jude’s eyes that made him reconsider. There was a humbleness that he had yet to see in any of his other employees.
Slowly, King lowered his gun and turned towards all his workers. “Take notes mufuckas. That’s what happens to a nigga who goes against the team!”
***
Cameron and Rumor sat in a booth smoking blueberry flavored hookahs while Cameron informed her on the shocking news. They were at a subtle day club in Midtown enjoying their afternoon before the sun went down, and it was time to make it clap.
“So did you tell him?” Rumor asked.
Cameron took an aggressive pull on the fruity tobacco and blew the smoke through her nostrils. “Girl, hell no! Jude would probably flip if he knew I slept with his cousin. He’d be so hurt and disappointed. What nigga wouldn’t be?”
“Well, how long ago was it?” Rumor asked.
“It was over three years ago,” Cameron answered honestly. “So long ago I can’t even remember if it was good or not.”
“Bitch you lyin’,” Rumor laughed.
Cameron giggled. “I am. It was great,” she admitted. “But it’s neither here nor there because I’m with Jude and I will never have eyes for another guy.”
“Not even a certain rapper,” Rumor hinted.
As if on cue, O’ Zone texted Cameron’s cellphone. The brief message read: You gon be up at the spot today? I’m tryna get up with you.
Cameron knew it was a bad idea to give O’ Zone her number from the start, but instead of following her best judgment she did the opposite. Cameron replied with a simple ‘yes’ and O’ Zone responded with: Cool. I’ma see you at the club tonight…and hopefully after too…
13
That night King, Jude, Aso, and a few other members filed inside of Persuasion Gentlemen’s Club. After riding around solely for the pleasure while smoking loud and drinking lean, the gang had somehow ended up at the popular entertainment establishment.
The Sprite and 2 oz. of cough syrup inside his Styrofoam had Jude so messed up that he forgot Cam worked there. The syrup had him feeling like he had tunnel vision. He felt great and without a care in the world. He’d never seriously been into drugs, but he had to admit the temporary high made him feel invincible. Jude’s dark reality seemed nonexistent. Vado being viciously beaten to near death with a snakeskin belt seemed insignificant.
Jude felt like he was drifting on clouds as he followed the gang to the VIP section of the strip club. King and his boys looked like the black Goodfellas as they swaggered inside dressed in expensive clothing and custom jewelry.
Cameron was so busy smiling in O’ Zone’s face that she didn’t even notice Jude walk in the club. She and the forthcoming music artist were posted on the wall near the pool table room talking.
“You need to quit bullshittin’ and let a nigga take you up out this shit,” O’ Zone told Cameron said. “If you were my chick ain’t no way I’d have you up in here strippin’.” He seductively ran a band along her thigh as he leaned in close to her ear. “I’d make you my own personal stripper.” O’ Zone handed the Cameron the band of cash and she gladly accepted it. He was breaking her off just for the conversation and attention.
Dancers stood off in the distance hating with folded arms because they all wanted the rapper’s attention. However, the “new girl” had swept him off his feet with her charming appeal and good looks.
“You ain’t like these other bitches. I can tell you different,” O’ Zone told her. “Right now in my life I need somethin’ different…” He pulled Cameron so close that their bodies were pressing together. She could feel his erection leaning against her leg. “Be straight up with me,” he said. “Do a nigga really gotta chance?”
“I keep business and pleasure separate,” Cameron answered honestly.
“Well, shit…they go hand in hand if you ask me. Especially in this profession,” O’ Zone added. “We might be able to help each other out.” He gave Cameron’s round ass a firm squeeze.
Meanwhile, in the VIP room, dancers had flocked to the gang of flashy guys. Everyone but King and Jude were entertaining the strippers, and behaving recklessly with their money. The promethazine codeine and soda had Jude leaning.
King fired up a Cohiba Behike cigar and took a seat next to Jude. “You a real low-key ass mufucka, huh?” he asked, noticing Jude’s blasé demeanor. He was the only one in the posse who wasn’t hype and throwing money at the half-naked strippers.
“Yeah, I’m pretty chill. Observant if anything else.” Jude said. “I’ve been that way since I was a young nigga. I learn a lot just watchin’ mothafuckas and playin’ it cool.”
King was impressed with the young guy’s mature poise. “I can dig it. You learn a lot by just observing shit,” he agreed.
The $500 cigar created a thick cloud of smoke in the VIP room. Jeezy blared through the club’s entertainment system.
Jude’s mind wandered to Vado. “What are you gonna do with Vado?” he asked.
King took a few drags on the cigar as he thought about it. “I’m not sure what I’ll do with that mothafucka yet. Without consequences there ain’t no lessons to be learned, ya feel me?”
Jude continued to sip his lean as he absorbed King’s impressionable words. The last thing he wanted was to end up like Vado, but this lifestyle was definitely proving to be more than what he bargained for. One thing was for certain; he couldn’t trust any person with power. If Jude continued to play it safe then hopefully he’d stay on King’s good size.
Jude nodded his head to the bass of the music as his dark eyes scanned the dimly lit club. They stopped on Cameron the moment he saw her and O’ Zone cozied up together in the far end of the strip club. He had one hand resting on her ass cheek and the other held onto her tiny waist.
Anger resonated in Jude’s heart. Jealousy instantly consumed him. He promised Cam that he could deal with her job, but seeing her in action had him seething inside. There was no way i
n hell he could sit back and watch any longer.
High off promethazine, Jude stood to his feet and left the VIP room. One of the dancers tried to get his attention as he stalked past her, but the last thing on his mind was a lap dance.
Seeing the smile on Cameron’s face pissed him off most of all. Is this why she wanted to start back dancing, Jude asked himself. For the attention?
When Jude reached Cameron, he snatched her out of O’ Zone’s face by her arm. He was so high that he didn’t even recognize the rapper immediately. But even if he did he wouldn’t have gave a damn.
“Ow, Jude. You’re hurting me,” Cameron complained.
Jude didn’t ease up on his grip as he led Cameron away from O’ Zone and to an empty area in the club. “I said I was cool with this shit but I ain’t, Cam. I can’t sit back and pretend to be cool with these hard up niggas grabbing all over you. You finna be my wife,” he stressed.
“Jude, we already talked about this. This is my job.”
Jude gave Cameron a suspicious look. “Be real with me, Cam. You missed this shit. That’s all it is. Just admit.”
“That’s not it at all,” Cameron lied.
“You missed this strippin’ shit. You missed this lifestyle. You missed the money. You missed the attention—”
“You’re drunk and talking crazy,” Cameron waved him off.
“I’ma tell you like this,” Jude began. “Don’t lose a real nigga chasin’ after the shit you think you want in the streets…” He warned Cameron. Looking over her shoulder he noticed O’ Zone watching them intently. There was a look of irritation on the rapper’s face. “You got somebody waitin’ on you,” Jude said before walking away from his girl.
Cameron shook her head in irritation. The nerve of this nigga to try to tell me about myself. She was fuming inside but only because the truth hurt. Jude had hit the needle on the head with his statements. Sometimes he knew her better than she knew herself.
After Jude walked off O’ Zone walked up to Cameron. Pulling his sunglasses off, he casually asked, “That’s yo’ nigga or somethin’?”
Cameron grimaced as she watched Jude grab a random dancer by the hand and lead her to the VIP room. Why the fuck is he even here, she wondered. “No,” Cameron answered dryly. “He’s not.”
“So look, I’m sayin’ tho, shawty, I’m finna dip up outta here ‘fore I spend my entire savings account on yo’ ass.”
Cameron smiled. “That wouldn’t be so bad.”
O’ Zone kissed Cameron on forehead and Jude didn’t miss the gesture when he looked back over his shoulder at them.
“For you it ain’t,” O’ Zone said. “Anyway I’ll be shootin’ a video in a couple weeks and I want you to fuck with it. Bless the screen with ya lovely presence. You think you’ll be wit’ it?”
“Let me think about that,” she told him. Honestly, she had no intentions of going through with it.
O’ Zone grabbed Cameron’s hands and placed a soft kiss on the back of them. He was trying to finesse her to get her on his team, but unlike most of the chicks he ran into, Cameron was playing hard to get.
“Don’t take too long to think about it. Aight, love?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll get up wit’ you later. Best believe, I’ma wear that ass down. When I’m through with you, you ain’t gon’ wanna deal with nobody else but me, ma,” O’ Zone promised. He lingered holding onto her hands before he finally walked off.
Envy mixed with the drugs had Jude boiling with rage. Just to be spiteful, he decided to get a little too extra touchy feely during his lap dance. He was hoping that Cameron saw him so that she’d be equally as jealous.
Cameron was walking to the dressing room, thumbing through the band O ‘Zone had given her when she stopped in mid-step. She did a double-take when she saw Jude getting a lap dance from a cute brown-skinned stripper. His hands were all over her body as the dancer gyrated in his lap.
Jude looked over at Cameron. The expression on his face said “Yeah, don’t feel too good do it?”
Cameron’s nostrils flared as she watched Jude grab a handful of the stripper’s ass. She’d had never felt so disrespected. He knows this is my place of business. Cameron had never known him to behave so petty. In a way, she felt like she didn’t recognize Jude. The situation instantly made her think of Silk.
Jude looked back over at Cameron and gave a sneaky smirk. He was acting incredibly immature by purposely trying to make her jealous.
Cameron shook her head while mouthing the words: Corny as fuck. Unable to entertain anymore of his childish bullshit, she stomped off to the dressing room.
When Cameron walked inside a few dancers were prepping for their performance. Rumor sat at the vanity, flat ironing her asymmetrical bob. Her glassy eyes indicated that she was already tipsy.
“Hey boo. How’s it looking out there?” Rumor asked. “Looking at that money I’m guessing good.”
Cameron tossed the band onto the vanity and plopped down in the empty seat beside Rumor. “My life should be a fucking book,” she said.
Rumor combed the last little hairs in place, and then applied some edge control to her baby hairs. “You sound like your mind’s heavy right now.” After replacing the comb inside her oversized purse, Rumor pulled out a small baggie with colorful pills. “Pop one with me and watch the world get smaller.”
Cameron stared at the enticing pills with a side eye. Her common sense screamed no, but her lips said, “Alright. Give me one…”
Rumor dropped a miniscule light blue pill in the center of Cameron’s outstretched hand. Hoping the drug would make her feel better Cameron placed the pill on her tongue and washed it down with Rumor’s shot of Patron.
Rumor failed to tell Cameron that the high would hit her way harder. She was just happy that she wasn’t going on her trip alone. Smiling at Cameron in the reflection of the dirty mirror, Rumor tossed back two pills.
In the VIP room, Jude finally got bored with acting like an asshole so he paid his dancer for her services. He dapped up everyone and prepared to leave. Jude was almost at the door when he noticed Cameron climbing up on the stage.
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…
Blood on the leaves…
Cameron grabbed the bronze and did a slow twirl around it. As usual, she had the audience captivated by her unique beauty. Kanye West’s “Blood On The Leaves” bumped through the club’s massive speakers.
The colorful strobe lights reflected off Cameron’s soft brown skin. Tiny beads of sweat formed on her forehead and the bridge of her nose. She felt hollow but free at the same time. No one had ever told her that ecstasy felt so great.
Cameron’s stomach rolled seductively as she swayed her curvy hips from right to left. Her hands slowly rubbed her flesh in an enticing manner. Bills showered down on her as she performed for the attentive crowd. Cameron’s body felt like it was in an orgasmic state.
Before the limelight tore ya…
Before the limelight stole ya…
Remember we were so young…
When I would hold ya…
Before the blood on the leaves…
I know there ain't nothing wrong with me…
Something strange is happening…
Cameron and a fellow light-skinned stripper danced entrancingly on one another. Money exploded onto the stage as a hurricane of bills showered them.
Jude had one hand on the door handle as he watched Cameron. There was something different about her all of a sudden. A part of him wanted to snatch her off the stage and drag her out the club, but then he realized she was there because she wanted to be there. It was never about us, Jude concluded. It was about her wanting to be back in her comfort zone: the strip club.
Shaking his head in agitation, Jude opened the door and walked out. Cameron was now the one wearing the sneaky grin. Little did she know, this would be the start of a change in the both of them.
***
Cameron sat at the vanity
fully dressed as she counted her earnings for the night. Secretly, she really missed the convenient cash. It was all so effortless, and Cameron made it look twice as easy.
“You wanna go to this after party in Decatur with me?” Rumor asked, squeezing her huge ass into a pair of leather shorts.
“I’m tired,” Cameron told her. “And my legs are kinda sore ‘cuz I haven’t danced in a while. I really just wanna go home.”
Rumor slipped her feet inside a pair of snakeskin London Trash booties. Cameron had been eyeing those shoes for the longest, but at the time she couldn’t afford to buy them.
“Ugh, bitch. You suck,” Rumor teased. “And I’m not even going back in the direction of our townhouses.”
Cameron waved her off. “It’s cool. I’ll catch a cab.”
“I don’t mind taking—”
“No, it’s cool. Really,” Cameron assured her. “I’ll be good.”
“Aight then, sexy mama. Hit me up tomorrow. I’m out.” Rumor rolled her suitcase out the dressing room, and Cameron stayed behind to call a taxi.
When Cameron exited the dressing room there was a few customers lingering at the bar still even though the stage was emptier than a blank canvas. Dragging her rolling suitcase behind her, Cameron walked outside to get a breath of fresh air. All of a sudden, an arm reached out and grabbed her—
14
Jude pulled Cameron towards him after she stepped outside. She was so busy scrolling through her phone that she didn’t notice him standing outside the door.
Initially, Cam was caught off guard but she relaxed a little when she recognized Jude. Pulling away from her baby’s father, she brushed past him. “Move, Jude. I ain’t in the mood. That shit you did in there was lame as hell.” Cameron was so upset with him still that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get in the same car with him.
Jude followed behind her. “I waited until you got off.” He was finally coming down from his high, and he could barely remember why he was so upset in the first place.
